Math Club- Getting Competitive

Tuesday, Feb 9 began as a normal day. It was cold, as a day in February should be. But things got a little heated in Trexler around noon, when the Math Club held its first annual Integration Bowl.

What on Earth is an Integration Bowl? Well, the Math Club members were divided into three teams- each team contained one math faculty member. The remaining faculty member (the infamous Dr. Taylor) was designated the judge. Dr. Taylor displayed either an integral or a derivative on a projected screen for each round, and one person from each team did their best to solve the problem as quickly (and correctly!) as possible on a blackboard. The first person to correctly solve the problem earned a point for their team.

Sound intimidating?

Well, the Roanoke College Math Clubbers stepped up to the challenge! The room filled with shouts of encouragement, groans at the difficulty of the problems, laughter at the absurdity of the situation, and the aroma of delicious pizza.

Little by little, the teams worked their way through 20 problems. The points were very close at the end- but the bonus question decided the winning team.